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VIEWS or SLAVERY, 



1IN tTS EFFECTS (|.\ Till" 



WEALTH, POPULATION, AND CHARACTER 



©if sr A^ncDssrSo 



BY WILLIAM JACKSON, 

Of Chester Co., Pennsylvania. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
PUBLISHED BY THE JUNIOR ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETV. 

MERKIHEW AND GUNN, PRINTERS, 

No. 7 Carter's Alley. 
1838. 






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VIEWS Or 8LATERY, iV < . 



The influence of slavery on the human 
character, is manifestly unfavorable to ha- 
bits of industry and the acquisition of skill. 
The slave, devoid of the stimulus to ex- 
ertion arising from the hope of reward, 
will naturally be disposed to indulge his 
love of ease. When compelled to labor, 
he will move reluctantly, and with less 
vigor and energy than he who is in- 
spired by a consciousness of freedom, 
and the expectation of reward. Hence 
an enervating lethargy is spread over all 
his movements, and his habitual exer- 
tions are much less effective than those 
of the free laborer. He also works with 
less skill ; for having but little induce- 
ment to increase the produce of his la- 
bor, he does not strive equally to im- 
prove himseif, and become dexterous in 
the performance of manual operations. 
The masters, too, being generally unac- 
customed to labor, and educated without 
that intimate acquaintance with the ma- 
nual operations of business, which is ne- 
cessary to qualify them for planning and 
directing such operations to the best ad- 
vantage, are unable to supply the de- 
fects of their operatives, and consequent- 
ly the labor of the slaves is not only less 
in effective power than that of freemen, 
but it is also directed with less skill. The 
system of slavery is also admirably adapt- 
ed to foster in the breast of the master, 
and others who aspire to an equality 
with him, a feeling of contempt for, and 
aversion to, labor, as well as to encou- 
rage careless waste and extravagance 
in the families of the masters. They 
live as it were from hand to mouth ; 
plentifully, while fertile land is abundant 
in proportion to their numbers ; but as 
this becomes exhausted in its fertility, or 
occupied by increasing multitudes, they 



are necessitated in some measure to fore- 
go their accustomed enjoyments, 

From the foregoing circumstances, il 

necessarily follows that the accumula- 
tion of capital goes on slowly m a slave 

district. There is both an inability and 
an indisposition to vest much stock in 
facilitating future productions. Hut little 
is laid out in improvements upon the 
land, or in providing tools ami machinery 
to increase the productive power of h 
bor. Hence, in process of time, their re- 
sources are gradually, but certainly dried 
up; the land becomes poor, theirdwellin^s 
go to decay, and the whole country exhi- 
bits the aspect of approaching desolation. 
In consequence of the want of energy 
and skill in the laborers, of business 
habits and operative knowledge in the 
masters, and of the advantages which 
the judicious application of capital gives 
to production, the annual produce of the 
land and labor of a slaveholding district, 
is vastly less in quantity than what is 
common in others possessing equal ad- 
vantages by nature, where free labor is 
employed. If to this we add the loss of 
labor which the nation suffers from the 
disgrace which is attached to the pursuits 
of industry, we may have an idea of 
the immense inferiority of a slavehold- 
ing district in the command which the 
people collectively possess over the neces- 
saries and comforts of life. And although 
the allowance of the slaves may be reduced 
even lower than is consistent with com- 
mon humanity, it is highly probable that, 
in general, they consume a greater propor- 
tion of the produce of their labor than 
usually falls to the lot of the hired labor- 
er; and it is certain that the utmost that 
can be wrung from them, is, in general, 
less than the profits that are derived from 



VIEWS OF SLAVERY, 



the employment of hired laborers, where 
the natural advantages are equally great, 
and workmen not peculiarly scarce. — 
This is particularly the case in manufac- 
tures, where skill and assiduity are ne- 
cessary to success ; for in them, generally, 
mere annual power is of comparatively 
little avail, when contrasted with dex- 
terity, skill, and the judicious application 
of capital. Hence it is, that manufac- 
tures never have, nor never can prosper 
in a slave district. The few rude articles 
thai are made by the hands of slaves, 
cannot stand a competition in the market 
with those manufactured beyond the in- 
fluence of slavery, unless they possess 
some very great advantages in situation 
or otherwise. Consequently, if a slave 
district was destitute of commercial in- 
tercourse with others of a different cha- 
racter, the people must be poorly accom- 
modated with the necessaries and com- 
forts of life. A large proportion of the 
laborers must be employed in preparing 
the few rude articles of manufacture that 
they would be able to procure, and the 
cultivators of the soil would have to give 
a large portion of the rude produce of 
the land for the very imperfect accom- 
modations which the low state of the 
arts could furnish. A body of thriving 
artizans, manufacturers, and merchants, 
sufficient to form a profitable market for 
the agriculturists, could not be raised 
up. The whole value of the annual 
produce would be comparatively small ; 
and of course, when the profits of the 
different kinds of business were equal- 
ized, they would all be very scanty, and 
poverty would be the common lot of the 
inhabitants, with few exceptions. 

Almost the only business that is found 
to afford a profit when carried on by the 
slaves, is agriculture ; and even this can- 
not succeed on an extensive field, except 
it is favored by nature, either by unusual 
fertility of soil, or by tl*' nature of its 
productions. But agriculture cannot be 
profitable 4 unless there is a good market 
for its produce ; and such a market can- 
not originate in a slave district. It is 
upon the capital, skill, and enterprise of 
Other countries, that the slaveholder must 
mainly rely for a market to absorb his 
surplus produce, and to furnish him with 
the various manufactured articles he re- 



quires. Upon them, therefore, depends, 
in a great measure, the ability to obtain 
the conveniences and comforts of life ; 
and it is to them that the slaveholder is 
indebted for the greater part of the value 
that is attached to his land. Low as the 
land is rated in the slave states, in pro- 
portion to its capability of producing, it 
would certainly be much lower if all 
commercial intercouse with more wealthy 
countries was interdicted. 

But the slaveholding agriculturist can- 
not obtain a foreign market for his pro- 
duce, unless he can raise such articles as 
are in extensive demand, and which will 
at the same time bear the expense of 
transportation. These properties he- 
long only, in a very limited degree, to the 
common articles of food that are pro- 
duced in temperate climates. These, 
from their weight and other circum- 
stances, can never become the staples of 
a very extensive foreign trade. The 
quantity of them that can be exported 
or received by any country of large ex- 
tent, will always bear a very small pro- 
portion to that which must be consumed 
or produced at home; and therefore, they 
can never regularly supply the export- 
ing agriculturist with the various things 
he must necessarily purchase, in order 
to conform to our ideas of comfortable 
living. It is for this reason that the 
raising of these articles can never be 
sufficiently profitable to encourage and 
enable the farmers to procure slaves for 
cultivating the soil, unless it is in limited 
districts, peculiarly favored by natural 
fertility. Hence it was that the system 
of slavery could not take deep root in 
those parts of our country whose soil 
and climate were not adapted to the pro- 
duction of other articles than provisions. 
The raising of these can never be profit- 
able on a large space, until an advan- 
tageous home market is created, for the 
greater part of the surplus produce of 
the cultivators ; and this, as we have 
seen, can never be furnished by the slave 
system. It was this circumstance, more 
than anything else, which saved the mid- 
dle and northern states of this confedera- 
cy from being deeply infected with the 
curse of slavery. Though so well 
adapted to the increase of wealth and pop- 
ulation, that they have exhibited a pro- 



BY WILLIAM JACKSON, 



gress probably unparalleled in the annals 
of the human race; they could furnish 
no rude produce for a foreign market 
that would pay the expense of slave 
cultivation on a large scale, and thus, 
fortunately for the present and future 
generations, the early settlers could not 
afford to buy slaves in sufficient numbers 
to make that system a prevailing feature 
in the constitution of the body politic. 
It was otherwise in portions of the South- 
ern States, and in the West Indies. The 
staple productions of those countries 
were such as could not be advantageous- 
ly produced in Europe, and for which 
there was a great and growing demand. 
Their cultivation was profitable, and ad- 
mitted of extension, so as to constitute 
a greater part of the surplus produce of 
the planters : and hence the quantity ex- 
ported was sufficient to purchase most 
of the manufactured articles they required. 
This created a great demand for slaves, 
and at the same time furnished the means 
of purchasing them ; and as hired labor- 
ers were scarce, the slave system prevail- 
ed, and gave a tone to the state of socie- 
ty peculiarly calculated to discourage the 
migration of free laborers to those coun- 
tries, so that the character of the people 
and the destinies of a large portion of the 
continent has been moulded in an unfor- 
tunate manner by these circumstances. 

If the foregoing reasoning is correct, 
it is evident that the main support and 
nourishment of the slave system has been 
an extensive and profitable distant mar- 
ket for the sugar, cotton, tobacco, &c. 
of the South. And that if all commer- 
cial intercourse was suspended, so that 
the slaveholders had not the opportunity 
of profiting by the superior industry, 
skill, and capital of countries less fa- 
vored by nature than their own, they 
would soon find the profits of their bu- 
siness nearly annihilated, and the value 
of their land depreciated to a mere tri- 
fle. General poverty would induce or 
compel them to part with their slaves, 
and at the same time prepare them for 
associating with the descendants of Afri- 
ca on terms approaching to equality. — 
Thus slavery would probably disappear 
in a few generations, in spite of the ut- 
most efforts of its friends to support it, 
and a general amalgamation of the two 



races would put an end to the prevailing 
prejudice againsi color. This am 
malum is a necessary r< suit of the con- 
tinuance of the Blave -\ item, until il ii 
removed by the operation of the La* - of 
nature. Nothing, n is In lieved, can ar- 
rest its progress but an extermination of 
one ol the races, or an abandonmi al <>i 
the system of iniquity. 

INFLUENCE o; BLAVER1 n\ POPULATION. 

The aggregate annual produce of the 
land and labor of a slave district, is much 

less than is common in others of equal 
extent and natural advantages, where 
slavery does not exist; and the system 
naturally produces a kind of management 

characterized by careless tvastd and ex- 
travagance. Consequently, such a district 
will never support as great a population 
as will naturally grow up under the 
genial smile of freedom; for the number 
of people in any given space cannot be 
permanently greater than what the annual 
produce will support in the mode required 
by their existing habits. The increase of 
capital is also much less rapid in such a 
district, than in one where freedom pre- 
vails, (other things being equal;) and con- 
sequently, the additional numbers that 
can be supported each year will be less ; 
so that a slaveholding district will not in- 
crease in population as rapidly as others, 
nor can it ever arrive at the same degree 
of wealth and power that is attainable by 
those that are so fortunate as to be clear 
of this withering curse. A strong check 
to the natural power of increase must, 
therefore, commence operation at an early 
period. While fertile land is abundant 
in proportion to the population, and a 
profitable market can be found for its 
staple productions, it is possible that even 
the wasteful extravagance and want of 
skill so manifest in the economy of the 
slave system, may provide for increasing 
numbers, so as to allow of a rapid increase 
of population ; and, perhaps, under very 
favorable circumstances, the whole pow< r 
of natural increase may be put forth. Hul 
this state of things cannot be of long du- 
ration, as the good land will soon become 
occupied, and its fertility begin to decline. 
The power of production must, therefore, 
increase less rapidly, and ere long come to 
a stand, or commence a retrograde course. 



VIEWS OF SLAVERY, 



But the tendency of the people to 
increase still continues, so that greater 
numbers will be brought into being than 
can be supported with the habits that were 
formed in more plentiful limes. Hence, 
the rising generation will find insuperable 
difficulties in the way of obtaining settle- 
ments at an e:ir!y age,, that will enable 
them to live comfortably, according to 
the ideas with which they have been 
educated. The masters are, therefore, 
operated upon by powerful motives to 
avoid the incumbrance of a family: 
particularly, as pride, prejudice, and cus- 
tom will not allow them to resort to 
manual labor of any kind for a support. 
Many, therefore, will remain unmarried 
to a late period in life, and some alto- 
gether ; while others, more enterprising, 
will emigrate in search of more favorable 
situations, or to avoid the humiliation of 
exhibiting their declining fortunes to their 
old associates. Thus the increase of the 
masters will be opposed by a constant 
and powerful check, which will keep the 
numbers of the race down to that which 
can be supported in ease, if not in afflu- 
ence, bv the pittance that can be wrung 
from the labor of the slaves ; operating 
under all the disadvantages incident to 
the declining state of affairs. The num- 
ber of those who live upon the labor of 
slaves must, therefore, soon come to a 
stand, or begin to decrease, after all the 
land applicable to the purpose is taken 
into tillage. 

As regards the slaves, they are not in 
a situation to be affected by that check 
to population, arising from the apprehen- 
sion of not hem- able to support a family. 
It is the master's business to provide for 
the future; and the slaves literally take 
no thought for the morrow, in relation to 
the important concern of continuing their 
race. They, therefore, increase and 
multiply without restraint; and so long 
as a market exists lor them as slaves, so 
that the masters can dispose of their su- 
pernumerary ones, they will be encour- 
aged to do so ; and thus an old settled 
slave district will annually send forth its 
droves of human cattle, to gratify the 
avarice of the white man in more favored 
regions, and to the disgrace of the Chris- 
tian name. This drain for the supernu- 
merary slaves, or some other that will 



answer the same purpose, seems the 
only circumstance that can give perpetui- 
ty to the system of slavery. The ten- 
dency which slaves generally possess to 
increase beyond the means of the masters 
to find support or profitable employment, 
will soon involve the latter in inextrica- 
ble difficulties, unless some means are 
devised to counteract it. Among these 
means there is none so likely to be re- 
sorted to, or so effectual as the sale and 
transportation of the superfluous num- 
bers, so long as a market is open for 
them. The present state of things in the 
older slave States might possibly continue 
for centuries, if an opening could be 
found for the sale of the transported 
slaves ; so that, while the number of the 
masters would remain nearly stationary, or 
probably declining, the slaves would put 
forth nearly their full power of increase. 
Thus the droves and cargoes that might 
be sent away from our Southern States 
in the course of a few centuries would be 
sufficient to blacken half the globe, and 
leave about as many there at the end of 
the time as would be existing if none 
had been removed, provided the masters 
were able to devise and introduce some 
other mode of keeping down their num- 
bers, so as to maintain their authority. 
It is true the hardships and privations 
that the slaves would naturally have to 
endure, in consequence of the failure of 
their masters' resources, would tend in a 
considerable degree to keep down their 
numbers : but experience proves that the* 
suffering from mere want must be very 
great indeed, where prudential considera- 
tions do not operate, before it will prevent 
children from being raised sufficient to 
occasion a considerable accession of po- 
pulation. And it is not likely that if no 
other check than this is adopted, the 
masters can long maintain their authority. 
It appears, therefore, that the system 
of slavery has a tendency to prevent the 
increase of the masters in a greater de- 
gree than that of the slaves ; and that as 
regards our own country, it is calculated 
to give the black race a great and un- 
natural preponderance at a future time in 
many of the finest portions of the Union. 
This is an important consideration for a 
statesman who looks to the future well- 
being of our country, and shows that it is a 



BY WILLI \ M .1 LCKSON. 



subject which interests the North as well i 
as the South. The principle here laid down 
has been corroborated by facts, but the 
lights which history furnishes on the 
subject are so faint that it is not exhibited 
as clearly as it no doubt would be, if we 
were intimately acquainted wi*h the cir- 
cumstances, in each case. The Israelites 
in Egypt must have multiplied much 
faster than their oppressors, or the facts 
related of them could not have taken 
place. And the Turks who have in a 
considerable degree endeavored to live 
by the gain of oppression have dwindled 
away and become impotent as a nation, 
heiiur evidently, if the reports of travel- 
lers are to be believed, less numerous 
now than when their crescent glared 
from the walls of Belgrade, and threaten- 
ed all Europe with subjugation. 

But we need not dwell upon the evi- 
dence furnished by other times and other 
countries; as our own times and native 
country will afford strong confirmation 
of the position here stated. It may be 
observed, however, that the migratory 
habits of our people, and the extensive 
trade carried on in slaves between the 
old and the new states, makes it impos- 
sible to ascertain the true rate of natural 
increase in any particular district. Be- 
sides so much of our country is yet new 
that the preventive check to population 
does not yet act upon all, or even nearly 
all the masters with its full force. For 
these reasons we ought not to expect 
that any uniform result would be exhi- 
bited; and yet by a careful comparison of 
the different enumerations that have been 
made of the people, it will clearly appear, 
that the position here taken is true in re- 
lation to the white and colored races in 
our own country. In Maryland, where 
from the vicinity to the free States and 
the unprofitableness of slave labor, a 
number have been manumitted, some 
have absconded, and many have been sent 
to the South, the whites have increased 
faster than the slaves. For the first 
period between 1790 and 1800 at the 
rate of one and eight-tenths per cent, in 
the ten years. In the second period or 
next ten years, their increase was two 
and three-tenths per cent, more than the 
slaves. The third period from 1810 to 
1820 we find an excess of fourteen and 



one-tenth per cent.; and the fourth l 
gives an excess of fifteen and two-tentha 

per cent. From this we see that the re- 
lative number of slaves has dimi:, 

considerably in thai Si tte. 

Virginia is somewhat similarly situated; 
and accordingly) we find thai the whites 
are' now gaining upon the slaves. In the 
first period, the excess o{ the slaves in- 
crease was but one and two-tenths p,- r 
rent.; and in the second, aii and eight- 
tenths per cent. In the third period, the 
whites have an excess of eight-tenths of 

one per cent., and in the fourth, lour and 
seven-tenths per cent. 

In North Carolina the whites hive 
uniformly been behind the slaves in their 
rate of increase. In the 'first period, fif- 
teen and two-tenths per cent. Second 
do., fifteen and nine-tenths per cent. 
Third do., ten and one-tenth per cent 
Fourth do., seven per cent. 

In South Carolina the whites appear 
to have had an excess in the first period 
of thirteen and two-tenths per cent.; but 
in the second, the slaves are in excess 
twenty-five and two-tenths per cent, in 
their rates of increase. In the third, their 
excess was twenty per cent., and in the 
fourth their increase was fourteen per 
cent, more than the whites. 

In Georgia, the excess of the slaves in- 
crease in the first period was thirteen and 
three-tenths per cent. — second do. thirty- 
two and four-tenths per cent. — third do. 
eleven and nine-tenths per cent. — in the 
fourth period, the whites appear to have 
increased eleven per cent, more than the 
slaves. 

In Kentucky, during the first period, 
the slaves increased thirty and three- 
tenths per cent, more than the whites — in 
the second, nineteen and four-tenths per 
cent. — third do., twenty-two and seven- 
tenths per cent. — fourth do., eleven and 
eight-tenths per cent. 

In Tennessee, the excess of slaves in 
their increase was, in the first period, 
one hundred and ten and two-tenths per 
cent. — second do., ninety-two and live- 
tenths per cent. — third do. twenty-two 
and five-tenths per cent. — fourth do., 
nineteen and one-tenth per cent. 

It will seen by examining the forego- 
ing statements, that the irregularities in 
the rate of increase is very great, not 



8 



VIEWS OF SLAVERY, 



only in different states, but in the same 
ones at different times, owing principal- 
ly to the varying currents of emigration, 

so that general inferences drawn from 
them alone would he liable to considera- 
ble uncertainly. It appears, that the 
aoirrciraie increase of the slaves in the 
foregoing 1 states since 1790, has been in 
a greater ratio than that of the white 
population, without making any allow- 
ance for the diminution of their numbers 
by emancipation, which appears to have 
been considerable. 

The same general result is aimed at 
by comparing the increase of the whiles 
and slaves during the last period in the 
whole of the southern states. In the 
states of Maryland, Virginia, N. Caroli- 
na, S. Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, 
Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ala- 
bama, and Missouri, the aggregate in- 
crease of white population from 1820 to 
1830, was at the rate of twenty-nine per 
cent. That of the slaves in the same 
states and for the same period, was thir- 
ty-one and seven-tenths per cent., show- 
ing an excess in the aggregate rate of in- 
crease of two and seven-tenths per cent. 

The period here included was one of 
unparalleled prosperity in most of the 
southern states, owing principally to the 
great profits arising from the cultivation 
of cotton ; and consequently the plant- 
ers would meet with less difficulty than 
usual in providing establishments suffi- 
cient to encourage the formation of ma- 
trimonial connections. And the great 
and tempting opportunities of making 
fortunes, which were presented by the 
high price of cotton, and the consequent 
increase of its production, and the various 
branches of business growing out of it, 
induced many of our citizens from the 
Northern and Eastern States to migrate 
to the South ; while the inducements to 
leave those regions and settle in the free 
states was less than may reasonably be 
looked for hereafter. The same cir- 
cumstances would naturally give rise to 
greater hardships amongst the slaves, and 
to greater activity in that trade, which, 
by tearing them from the scenes of their 
youth, and violently breaking up the ten- 
derest and mpst endearing ties of our na- 
ture, would cause many a wo-worn crea- 
ture to descend into a premature grave. 



The opening of new lands is also unfa- 
vorable to the health of the laborers, and 
consequently to their power of increase ; 
and considerable diminution has been 
made to their numbers by emancipation 
in some of the states, particularly in 
Kentucky and Tennessee, where the in- 
crease of the free blacks has been much 
greater than what has arisen from pro- 
creation only, being upwards of seventy 
per cent. 

If under all these circumstances, favor- 
ing the increase of the whites, and de- 
pressing that of the slaves, the latter 
could multiply two and seven-tenths in 
every hundred more than the whites, 
what may we not expect under a state of 
things which is rapidly approaching, 
when those peculiar encouragements to 
the increase of the whites shall be done 
away. 

OF THE EFFECTS OF SLAVERY ON NATION- 
AL CHARACTER AND THE STATE OF SO- 
CIETY. 

The system of slavery in the early 
stages of its progress, furnishes the mas- 
ters generally with a plentiful supply of 
the necessaries and conveniences of 
life. While fertile land is waiting for 
the hand of man to call forth its treasures, 
the labour of the slaves can be so direct- 
ed as to yield a large return of rude or 
unmanufactured produce. Thus favor- 
ed by nature, they feel not the toil and 
hardship of cultivating the soil, and 
seem to place a low estimate on the 
common necessaries of life. Hence ex- 
cessive parsimony is not a sin that 
easily besets them. They are hospita- 
ble and generous, scornful of the petty 
artifices to which the needy sharper is ■ 
prone to resort, and possessed of a high, 
chivalrous sense of honor, which gives 
brilliancy to their character. Feeling 
that it does not belong to them to labor 
for a living, and having the means at 
their command, the more favored among 
them cultivate their intellectual powers, 
to gratify their love of distinction, or as 
a source of refined pleasure. Hence 
many of them become well informed 
men, powerful orators, able statesmen, 
or formidable commanders. They are 
not, however, likely to cultivate those 
arts and sciences which give man a com- 
mand over the powers of nature, with as 



BY WILLIAM JACKSON. 



much assiduity as those which will 
enable them to exercise influence over 
their fellow men, or excite the wonder 
and admiration of their cotemporaries. 
Conceiving themselves bom to com- 
mand, they cultivate those arts that will 
increase their power; and feeling con- 
scious of their own importance, they as- 
sume a lolty bearing in their social inter- 
course. 

Accustomed to the exercise of al- 
most absolute power, they cannot brook 
any kind of authority over themselves ; 
so that, they naturally acquire high and 
chivalrous notions of political liberty. 
So far, indeed, do they carry this feeling, 
that they esteem the privilege of making 
slaves of others as among their dearest 
and most invaluable rights. Nor can 
they brook on the part of others even 
discussion respecting the propriety of 
their conduct in relation to slavery. 

These shining qualities, however, 
(though generally more brilliant than 
useful) form the fairest side of their cha- 
racter. Noxious and noisome weeds 
spring up amongst them, and give the 
impress of odious peculiarities. Fa- 
miliar with injustice and oppression 
from their infancy, they learn to disre- 
gard the rights of others. Educated in 
the midst of scenes at variance with 
their natural sense of justice, they are 
tempted habitually to disregard the mo- 
nitions of conscience; and impatient of 
control, they are disposed to disregard 
the restraints of law and order. With 
these peculiarities, and the host of vices 
that spring out of them, a large propor- 
tion of slave-holders are deeply affected ; 
and consequently they are but poorly 
qualified to be members of a prosperous 
and happy community. 

But this prosperous state of things 
cannot long continue. The resources 
of the slaveholders will be gradually 
dried up. They will become more and 
more limited in the command of the 
necessaries and comforts of life, and 
consequently more and more unable 
to give their children a liberal education. 
The general standard of literary attain- j 
ment will be gradually lowered ; till the 
taste for such pursuits will be in great 
measure banished from the common 
walks of life, and general and gross ig- 



norance will overspread th< land. Bol 
the vices of the slave system will con- 
tinue, and lie aggravated !>\ the growing 
ignorance of the people ; BO ili.n in pro- 
cess of tunc the masters will he di 
down from that proud eminence OJ in- 
tellectual superiority in which they have 

fancied themselves securely seated. 

They will become poor, ignorant, and 
degraded, ami thus prepared to associate 
with their slaves upon terms of equality. 

As for the slaves it Beems to b< i 
on all hands thai their situation I v 
them in a peculiar manner to degrad l- 
tion. The remark of Homer, that 
"Jove Gxed it certain, that whatever (Jay 
Makes man ;i slave, takes half his worth away," 

is confirmed by the experience of all 
and nations. In addition to the causes of de- 
gradation necessarily connected with their 
situation, they are subject to the direct ef- 
forts of their masters to shut out from their 
benighted intellect every ray of know- 
ledge that is calculated to increase their 
power. They are treated as brute beasts, 
and every effort is made to cause them to 
assimilate in character to the tribes of in- 
ferior animals, as far as it is possible to 
do it by human means. Thus ignorant 
and degraded, they are destined to form 
the larger part of the community ; for 
their greater rate of increase must some 
time or other place them in the majority. 
They wax stronger and stronger, while 
their masters are continually growing 
weaker and weaker ; and they must ulti- 
mately impress upon the community to 
which they belong, the prominent fea- 
tures of their character. 

In the progress of events, too, it is im- 
possible to prevent occasional insurrec- 
tions of the slaves ; many of which will 
be put down by force, and marked, as such 
things usually are, by scenes of barbarous 
and ferocious cruelty, at which humanity 
shudders. These contests will naturally 
become more frequent as the power of 
the slaves increase ; and they will na- 
turally be more strongly marked with 
barbarity as the power of the parties 
approach to equality, and their fears 
and hopes are strengthened by circum- 
stances ; so that all portions of the com- 
munity will acquire a savage ferocity 
of character. The accommodations and 
accomplishments of civilized life will 



10 



VIEWS OF SLAVERY, 



disappear; scenes of lawless violence will 
be frequent, and render life and property 
insecure; a night of barbarism and dark- 
ness will overspread the laud, and slavery 
will probably disappear in the general 
wreck of civilization and refinement. 

Such is the natural couise of events to 
which slavery gives rise. In civilized 
society, it is a disease in the body politic. 
A state of barbarism is its congenial soil, 
and to that state it will tend to reduce 
everv people who adopt it as a control- 
ling feature in the constitution of the 
body politic. Among a barbarous people 
it is comparatively harmless, unless it is 
supported by a trade in slaves, as it can 
neither be of great extent or of long con- 
tinuance, without such assistance. 

Thus was the power of the Roman 
empire undermined. In the days of its 
glorv, it was rich in brilliant characters. 
In literature and science it was great, and 
shone with superior lustre. In arts and 
in arms it was almost without a rival ; 
and the period of its grandeur still stands 
conspicuous for the great and splendid 
achievements of intellectual power which 
it exhibited. The foundation of its great- 
ness was deeply laid in the industry, in- 
telligence, and valor of its citizens ; but 
in an evil hour they appropriated the 
wealth and power which they thus ac- 
quired, to the purposes of oppression. 
They procured slaves, and undertook to 
live on the produce of their labour. The 
system was extended with the increase 
of means, till it pervaded the whole so- 
cial system ; and in the time of Augus- 
tus, it is estimated that one-half of the 
inhabitants of the empire were slaves. 
For a while, a brilliant galaxy of intel- 
lects maintained the glory of the Roman 
name; but the lustre with which it shone 
gradually faded away. The arts and 
sciences were neglected ; poverty and 
ignorance increased ; the resources of 
the people became more and more limit- 
ed, and the power and glory of the em- 
pire departed. The Roman name ceased 
to inspire terror among the rude and 
hardy barbarians of the north ; and they 
issued forth in swarms to prostrate the 
tottering remains of that mighty power 
which had so long kept them in awe. 
Amid the confusion of this period, (of 
which the servile insurrections were a 



fruitful source,) the small glimmerings of 
literature and science which still dicker- 
ed in the neighborhood of the capitol, 
were extinguished ; and a long and dreary 
night of barbarism and darkness over- 
spread the civilized world. At length, 
after the lapse of a thousand years, the 
human mind began slowly to emerge 
from the deep gloom with which it had 
been so long enveloped ; and the monu- 
ments of ancient learning were dragged 
forth from the heaps of rubbish, where 
they had long lain neglected, once more 
to astonish, delight, and instruct mankind. 
Egypt, too, the cradle of science, and 
the avenue through which the light of 
civilization first shone upon Europe, has 
long since fallen from its great estate. 
The splendid ruins that yet survive, and 
seem to bid defiance to the corroding 
tooth of time, attest a highly cultivated 
state of the arts. Individual wealth must 
be accumulated to a great extent, and 
general intelligence prevail for a long 
period among a considerable class of 
men, before such works as yet exhibit 
their remains could possibly be executed. 
Opulence, extensively diffused, must for 
a long time have been requiring and en- 
couraging artizans of many descriptions 
to minister to the love of convenience 
and elegance which wealth naturally in- 
spires, befoie a body of workmen could 
be trained, capable of performing such 
master-pieces of workmanship as appear 
to have been executed in that country in 
very ancient times. The conclusion is, 
therefore, irresistible, that some, at least, 
of the African nations were in a highly 
cultivated state, long before science and 
civilization shed a ray of light upon the 
land of our forefathers. Whether the in- 
habitants of those countries were at that 
time of the black or negro race, is a pro- 
blem which it is difficult to solve satis- 
factorily; but there are strong reasons for 
supposing that at least some of them 
were ; and that the time was, when the 
white race were ignorant savages, and 
the black a polished and intelligent peo- 
ple. Be this as it may, it is established 
by the testimony of history, that this peo- 
ple were extensive holders of slaves, and 
that Egypt was the great slave market 
for the marauding hordes that then occu- 
pied part of the eastern shore of the Me- 



diterranean sea. This is strikingly sup- 
ported and exemplified by the story of 
Joseph, who was sold by his brethren 
to the traders on their way to that 
market. 

From these and similar facts that have 
been handed down to us, it is reasonable 
to infer that the slave system grew with 
the increasing wealth of the people, and 
formed a controlling feature in their so- 
cial organization. As a natural conse- 
quence, the facts that have taken place 
would follow. The people became 
generally poor ; the light of science was 
nearly extinguished ; and the arts that 
embellish the path of life, and furnish a 
large part of the comforts and conve- 
niences of civilization, were lost to them 
perhaps for ever. 

The arts, the sciences, and the spirit 
ot civilization, were transplanted into 
other climes; and the wealth and power 
which these conferred, raised up other 
nations in succession. These in turn 
extended the system of slavery with their 
increase of wealth; and the consequence 
was they shone for a brief space with 
resplendent lustre, and then faded awav 
into a state of semi-barbarism and igno- 
rance. Africa became the great store- 
house for furnishing such countries with 
slaves The bones and sinews of her 
sons became the leading staples of her 
commerce and has so continued to this 
day. And to this circumstance we may 
rationally attribute the impenetrable 
gloom that hangs over that benighted 
continent: a gloom which cannot be 
dissipated till the accursed traffic shall 
be proscribed by the more civilized 
world. 

Such are the natural effects of slavery; 
such the direction it tends to give to the 
current of successive events, in every 
age ail d in every clime ; and we need 
not flatter ourselves that we as a people 
can escape the common lot of human 
nature. It l8 true, there are many coun- 
teracting circumstances connected with 
our condition, that will materially modi- 
fy the general result, and prevent that 

entire loss of the blessings of civilization 
which some other countries have exhi- 
bited. But it is not the less true, that 
slavery tends to produce poverty/igno- 
rance, and barbarism; and'that the more 



BY WILLIAM JACKSON. 



11 



extensive it is in its operation, and the 
longer it » persevered in, the more folly 
will those effects be developed. Y 

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE mSTRICT 

OF C0LUMI1IA. 

As the right of Congress to abolish 
slavery in the District of Columbia has 
been called in question, it may be allow- 
able to devote a brief space to its exami- 
nation, notwithstanding the difficulty of 
conceiving how an intelligent person can 
entertain any doubts on the subject. By 
a right, we understand a just and compe- 
tent authority to exercise discretionary 
power in the regulating, controlling, or 
directing of something. The rights of 
individuals have reference to those things 
which are rightly and properly placed 
under their control, and the rights of go- 
vernment have the same relation to the 
things which properly come under its 
direction. It is right and proper in the 
nature of things, that individuals as such 
should each have a certain sphere of dis- 
cretion in which their will is law, and in 
which it is their just privilege, as well as 
duty, to act as they may think right and 
proper, without being subject to human 
control, further than to keep them within 
their proper limits, and prevent them 
from encroaching upon the sphere which 
properly belongs to others. So with go- 
vernment; in whatever hands it may be 
placed, it has a certain sphere of discre- 
tion properly belonging to it, which 
it cannot transcend without injustice. 
Hence the rights of government, as well 
as of individuals, are not arbitrary and 
variable. They are fixed in the nature 
of things, and defined by the Creator in 
the laws which are impressed upon the 
workmanship of his hand. They are as 
immutable as the principles of right and 
wrong on which they rest. 

The powers of government are natu- 
rally inherent in the majority of the peo- 
ple, and in this country that majority 
have delegated their authority to certain 
sets of officers appointed for the exercise 
thereof, among whom it is distributed as 
defined in the constitutions of the gene- 
ral and state governments, taken connect- 
edly. Hence those constitutions are the 
legal and proper evidence of the distribu- 
tion of power, and of the rights belonging 
to each department of the government • 



12 



VIEWS OF SLAVERY, 



but it must be borne in mind that they are 
but the acts of the majority, and they can 
confer no rights which did not originally 
belong to that majority. 

Having thus defined the nature of 
rights in general, we will proceed to the 
particular case before us. The District 
of Columbia has no local legislature, and 
hence it is manifest that if the abolition 
of slavery is a matter which government 
may rightfully do in any case, it is a 
subject embraced in the sphere of discre- 
tion which it may rightfully and justly 
exercise, and therefore the right to do it 
must rest with either the general or state 
governments. The latter is not pretend- 
ed. No one contends that an act of the 
legislature of Maryland, abolishing slave- 
ry, (if such should be passed,) would ex- 
tend in its operation over any part of the 
District. No such reservation of power 
was made at the cession of the territory, 
nor does such a supposition receive any 
countenance from the terms of the federal 
constitution. Those, therefore, who deny 
to Congress the power in question, must 
hold that it does not belong to govern- 
ment in any shape. That it is a matter 
with which government has no rightful 
authority to interfere, and that the privi- 
lege of holding slaves is one of the ina- 
lienable rights of individuals, a necessary 
appendage to constitute a freeman. As a 
consequence of this doctrine, they must 
also hold that government has no right to 
enquire into the title by which slaves are 
held; for, say they, it cannot interfere 
with the subject without encroaching 
upon the rights of individuals; and if it 
has a just authority to settle the princi- 
ples upon which property in slaves shall 
rest — if it may define the circumstances 
necessary to constitute a good title, and 
extend its protecting arm to all who are 
not embraced under those circumstances 
— if these are matters within its rightful 
sphere of discretion, it certainly has the 
right to abolish slavery, for it may make 
those circumstances such that no indivi- 
dual will be embraced under them. 

If government may extend its arm for 
the protection of the man of thirty years 
of age, who may be seized by ruthless 
violence, and compelled by the terror of 



the lash to labor without recompence, for 
the benefit of another to whom he owes 
no obligation, it may do the same to those 
of any other age, and say that the infant 
should not be seized in the same way 
and held as the property of another. If 
it may say that a white man or red man 
shall not be held as a slave, may it not 
extend the same protection to those of 
any other color. If it may rightfully 
say that the violent seizing of a man, and 
compelling him by the fear of corporal 
punishment to labor for another, does 
not of itself confer a title to his bones 
and sinews, it certainly has the same 
right to say that the additional circum- 
stance of the original wrong doer sell- 
ing his victim to another, shall not con- 
fer a better title, and that the condition 
of slavery shall not be extended to the 
children of such unfortunate objects of 
oppression. If it may go thus far and 
say, that the seizing of a man in Penn- 
sylvania, New York, Great Britain, or 
France shall not give a good and suffi- 
cient title to the original seizor, or to 
any person who may purchase of him, 
may it not extend the same principle 
to China, Japan, Turkey, or Africa. 
In short, if it be admitted, that it is a 
matter proper for government to deter- 
mine who may be held as slaves — that 
it has a discretionary power in this re- 
spect, it is impossible to avoid the con- 
clusion that the whole subject is within 
its proper sphere of discretion. The 
doctrine which is now contended for 
by the South amounts, therefore, sub- 
stantially to this — that government has 
no just and proper authority to protect 
any one in their personal liberty, and 
that as regards it, might constitutes right. 
A conclusion so monstrous and palpa- 
bly absurd cannot surely be held as a 
truth by any one, but it is a legitimate 
inference from the doctrine that Con- 
gress have no power to abolish slavery 
in the District of Columbia. It is clear, 
then, thai Congress does possess the power 
in question, unless it can be shown that 
some other legislative body possesses the 
right to perform this act of justice, and 
this, as above remarked, has not yet been 
pretended. 



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